40 years ago today, a hotly anticipated duel between two running phenomena at the Olympics in LA ended with a momentous incident that continues to stir emotions to this day.
Athletics icon Carl Lewis and Romanian gymnastics legend Ecaterina Szabó win four gold medals. High jumper Ulrike Meyfarth triumphs in the high jump again twelve years after Munich 1972. “Albatross” Michael Groß becomes the figurehead of German swimming.
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The 1984 Olympic Games offered many stories that sports fans still remember today. The dream factory of Los Angeles – which will again be an Olympic venue in 2028 – provided the perfect backdrop for the first fully commercialized competitions in Olympic history. And the popular motifs of dramas and duels, for heroic stories and real or supposed villainy.
Now rather forgotten in this country, but at the time a particularly big topic was an incident in which practically all of the ingredients listed above were mixed together: the story of Mary Decker and Zola Budd.
Olympia 1984: Duel between Budd and Decker
Mary Decker (now Mary Slaney) was the best middle and long distance runner in the USA at the time: At the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki she won the 1500 and 3000 meters and was then followed by Sports Illustrated named Sportswoman of the Year.
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She went into the major event in her home country as a media darling and favorite to win gold in the 3000 meters, which was her main focus. She seemed a sure bet for the heroine role, not least because the boycott by the communist Eastern Bloc states thinned out the field of rivals.
But one highly regarded competitor remained – even though she too had to contend with political turbulence: Budd, the then 18-year-old prodigy from South Africa.
Budd (now Zola Pieterse), who always runs barefoot, became world famous at the beginning of the Olympic year when she beat the world record time over 5000 meters at a meeting in her home country.
For political reasons, the record was not officially recognized because South Africa was boycotted by the IAAF at the time because of its racist apartheid policy. Budd would not have been allowed to take part in the Olympic Games if she had flown the South African flag – but she applied for a British passport in time, which her ancestry enabled her to obtain.
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The naturalization of the much-acclaimed wonder runner was actively fueled by a campaign by the English tabloid newspaper Daily Mailwhich also influenced Budd’s father to persuade his daughter to accept British citizenship. The fact that the formalities were then completed quickly caused discussions even before the Olympics began.
With strong preparation, Budd set the stage for the staging of a great duel. The world’s best Maricica Puica from Romania – which did not take part in the Eastern boycott – was rather overlooked in the media. She did not have such a spectacular story.
This is how the drama developed
Things got heated in the preliminary rounds in Los Angeles: Decker set an Olympic record in the first heat. However, Puica beat it again in her qualifying race.
Later, however, everything came down to the duel between Decker and Budd – but in a way that neither the American nor the English fans had hoped for.
Decker was ahead in the final, closely followed by Budd, with Puica and Budd’s new compatriot Wendy Sly lurking behind him. Halfway through the race, Budd overtook Decker, putting him under pressure. Then the wild drama unfolded.
Running crash has far-reaching consequences
While trying to catch up with Budd, the two came into contact several times. Budd stumbled twice, and on the third occasion there was a collision, causing Decker to hit the ground with her hip – she was eliminated and was carried off the course by discus thrower Richard Slaney, her future husband.
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Budd, who was visibly mentally thrown off by the events, fell back and ended up only seventh. Puica took the win ahead of Sly.
The serious crash caused quite a stir: Decker accused Budd at a press conference of having hindered her and of being to blame for her gold medal dream being shattered. Budd was disqualified for a while, but after a subsequent viewing of the video she was re-entered into the results list – the world association found no wrongdoing.
Budd was also badly affected by the subsequent uproar, received death threats, and after her return to England she was temporarily placed under police protection.
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The question of who was actually responsible for the crash was controversially discussed for years. Decker spoke to Budd in 1985, but stuck to her own view of things – years later she reassessed the matter: she now believes the problem was her own lack of experience in racing with a tightly packed field of pursuers.
Neither Budd nor Decker – or Slaney from 1985 onwards – were able to fulfil their shattered dream of Olympic gold, even in retrospect.
No Olympic medal for exceptional runners
Slaney was still the best US runner at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, but was no longer close to winning a medal. Budd had previously become embroiled in another controversy when she was accused of competing in her ostracized home country in violation of the rules at the time.
She forestalled an impending ban by declaring that she would give up her international career and return to her country of birth – the psychological stress had affected her health so much that she no longer felt capable of participating in competitive sport.
In 1992, after the political pacification of South Africa through the release of Nelson Mandela, Budd competed for her home country at the Olympics in Barcelona. She was no longer able to win a medal.
Mary Slaney lost late World Championship silver after doping scandal
Mary Slaney was also remembered for another scandal, and she remained active until the next home Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta and beyond.
At the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris, the then 38-year-old Slaney surprised everyone by winning silver in the 1500 meters. Shortly afterwards, however, it emerged that she had already failed a doping test before the 1996 Olympics due to elevated testosterone levels.
Slaney tried to explain the finding by saying that her hormone levels were out of balance due to her age and the contraceptive pill she was taking. However, an IAAF arbitration panel ultimately stripped her of her World Championship silver.
Slaney, now 66, lives with her husband on a large country estate in the athletics stronghold of Eugene, Oregon. Zola Pieterse, 58, who celebrated a reunion with Slaney for the 2016 documentary “The Fall,” also lived in the USA for a long time after her Olympic career and kept fit there with numerous marathons. She has been living in her home country again since 2021.
